As of Oct. 26, North Carolina turnout (absentee voting and early voting) had reached an impressive 46.6% of all registered voters. About 3.4 million ballots had been accepted. With a week to go, these numbers surpass where we were the end of early voting in 2016. You’ve seen the lines, and you’ve probably witnessed the enthusiasm yourself!
But we are far from the finish line. Trump and Biden are running neck and neck in North Carolina, and we need to win by margins that are impossible to deny. And no matter what happens in the presidential contest, our state legislative races will come down to the slimmest of margins. That’s because, while our maps are fairer than they’ve been in a decade, they were still drawn to favor the GOP, and that means that we need to fight for every vote.
One of the most effective ways to turn out voters who might not otherwise vote is direct contact from someone they know. Your friends and family are much more likely to take your call or respond to your text than to a volunteer’s. The chances are good that you know someone who hasn’t voted yet, doesn’t plan to vote at all, has questions about how/where to vote, or doesn’t plan to vote the full ballot. Or you know someone who knows someone who plans to sit this one out. Maybe you can be the spark. If every North Carolinian talked with three friends about voting between now and the election, our democracy would be healthier for it. And the chances of a blue wave would increase, because Democratic voting increases when turnout is higher.
If you download our Empower app (or create an account on your computer here using code FlipNC), you’ll be able to match your friends and family to the voter file to discover who still needs to vote. You can easily upload dozens of contacts, and the app will prioritize them for you. Here are instructions to help you get started. You can use the sample emails and texts in this guide to reach out and encourage your contacts to vote the full ballot before the early voting period ends on Oct. 31. You can also help them find their polling place if they plan to vote on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Some additional resources (and these are also found in our guide):
FLIP NC Voter Guide – a primer on what’s at stake up and down the ballot
NC Voter Lookup Tool – enter a name to view that person’s sample ballot and find out their Nov. 3 polling location
Early Voting Lookup – find early voting locations by county. Remember, early voting ends Oct. 31. Folks who aren’t registered can register AND vote during early voting. On Election Day, you must already be registered to vote to cast a ballot.
Have questions? Struggling to answer a friend’s question about voting? Email andrea@flipnc.org. We are here to help you be a resource to the folks in your personal network.